Author(s): Caroline Nielson, Connor Baird, Drake Fowers
Mentor(s): Robert Kagabo
Institution UTech
Background Cigarette smoking-related diseases such as cancers kill approximately 480,000 people each year in the United States. Smoking cessation interventions have assisted lower smoking rates in the last several decades. Some populations, however, such as individuals with psychiatric illness and substance use disorders (SUD) do not receive these interventions yet they smoke at higher rates compared to the general population. Interventions are both behavioral and pharmacological with the commonly used pharmacological being the Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). This research answers the question of what are the perspectives of NRT use for smoking cessation among Psychiatric Inpatients with Opioid Use Disorders (OUD). Methods Following ethical approval, 4 focus groups were conducted in St. George Utah in February to October 2024 with patients who had just completed an inpatient stay. There were 39 patients with 59 percent males and ranging in age 20 to 58 years. The patients were completing a partial hospitalization program to continue treatment for mostly SUD for 18 hours a week. Focus groups were voice recorded, transcribed, categorized in themes, and analyzed. Categorization examples included advantages and disadvantages of NRT in form of patches, gum, lozenges, and inhalers for smoking cessation. A brief survey was also administered to obtain quantitative data. Results Of the 39 patients, 92% reported to have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and 82% were active smokers at the time of the survey. Of all participants, 67% and 46% reported to have used NRT gum and patch respectively in the past. While the gum and patch were the preferred NRT use, there were more disadvantages reported for both compared to the lozenges and inhalers. Examples of advantages were that the patch is easy to use, and the lozenges are helpful with the oral fixation that patients possess. Examples of the disadvantages were that the patch makes it harder to get good sleep and gum has special chewing instructions difficult to follow compared to regular gum. Conclusion Findings of 82% of patients as current smokers suggest very higher rates of smoking among psychiatric inpatients with OUD. Another finding that most of those surveyed have tried to use forms of NRT in the past suggests that a large proportion of this population may be interested in quitting smoking and a tailored NRT use might help them quit.